The Lions draw extremes of emotion. One week, they supposedly have changed their losing culture. The next, it rears its ugly head again.

As such, optimism was very high when the Lions began the 2017 season 3-1. Conversely, it’s like a pin has pricked the balloon because of Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Forgotten in the general madness surrounding the Lions is their propensity the past decade or so for seemingly turning it around only to fall by the wayside at the first sign of distress.

Sunday’s loss wasn’t necessarily a tribulation, though. The Lions are 3-2. Everything they want to achieve is within reasonable reach. They didn’t play a good game Sunday, but ultimately did force Carolina quarterback Cam Newton to drill a crucial third-down pass late to wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin to seal the win. The Lions weren’t easy to knockout.

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The key will be how they respond to this loss. The Lions have had really good victories over Drew Brees and the Saints the past three years. They need another this Sunday.

The Lions have bye after the New Orleans’ game, and then prime time encounters with perennial contenders Pittsburgh (Sunday Night Football at Ford Field) and Green Bay (Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field).

Going into the off week at 4-2 with a win would be meaningful compared to 3-3 and sliding.

The snowball - the Lions have struggled mightily to melt it once it gets rolling. Will it be different this time?

Two old vulnerabilities reared their head for the Lions Sunday, each involving the tight end position.

The tone of the game changed dramatically because Panthers’ tight end Ed Dickson caught five passes for 175 yards. It was ridiculous how open he was, and covering the tight end has been a problem in past seasons for the Lions.

“I know he broke a tackle on one of those plays,” Lions’ safety Glover Quin said. “The others I won’t know exactly what happened until we see the film.”

The Panthers have a solid running game with backs Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey, and the added dimension of Newton being an exceptional runner. Those three combined for just 28 yards on 28 carries. Yet, the focus on stopping the run opened up Carolina’s passing attack, especially for Dickson. Newton was 26 of 33 for 355 yards and three touchdowns The Lions’ defense, which was very opportunistic in the first three games, didn’t force any turnovers Sunday.

On the offensive side, Lions’ tight end Eric Ebron continues to disappoint by routinely dropping passes.

Ultimately, Darren Fells replaced him and caught two fourth quarter TD passes during the Lions’ rally.

“He wasn’t our problem,” Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said of Ebron. “It doesn’t boil down to one player.”

General manager Bob Quinn has received kudos for improving the Lions’ offensive line, but it’s not producing holes for the run game nor protecting QB Matthew Stafford, who has been sacked 12 times the last two weeks.

“We had too many (quarterback hits). We have to get it fixed,” Caldwell said. “Number one for us is protection for our quarterback. It’s not just the offensive line. There are a lot of people involved in protections.”

But don’t be fooled by this loss. It’s not how the Lions begin this season that matters as much as how they close it. What they have done so far, is stay in the race. Doing that is only the first step, but it’s not fading at the end which will determine whether they have, indeed, changed their “losing culture.”

“We have a long way to go. The key is to keep getting better as we go,” Caldwell said.